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All Rise...

Judge Dylan Charles is still looking for some new Christmas movies to watch.

The Charge

• "Six kids on a true and wonderful
adventure"—All Mine to Give

• "Baby, you're just what I want for
Christmas"—Holiday Affair

• "Make yourself at home for the holidays!"—It
Happened on 5th Avenue

• "The Story of a Woman Who Defied
Convention"—Blossoms in the Dust

Opening Statement

Year after year, my family watches the same few holiday movies over and over
again. There's only so many times a body can watch White Christmas before they want to
chuck it right out the window and just watch Die Hard, another great Christmas movie,
instead.

So I welcomed Warner Brothers Classic Holiday Collection, Vol. 2, a
whole mess of Christmas movies that I've never seen before, prepackaged for my
convenience. There's just one tiny little problem, albeit a crucial one.
Seventy-five percent of these movies have jack-all to do with Christmas.

Facts of the Case

• All Mine to Give: Mamie (Glynis Johns, The Cabinet of Caligari) and Robert
(Cameron Mitchell, Carousel)
Eunson are Scottish immigrants trying to start a new life in 1850s Wisconsin.
They flourish with six new additions to the family. But when tragedy strikes,
it's going to take a Christmas miracle to make sure things turn out all
right.

• Holiday Affair: Connie Ennis (Janet Leigh, Psycho) is a struggling
single mom trying to raise her son. Her upcoming marriage to Carl (Wendell
Corey) could give her the financial security she needs, but she is drawn to
Steve Mason (Robert Mitchum Cape Fear)
a down-and-out ex-soldier who buys her son a train set he can ill afford.

• It Happened on 5th Avenue: Jim Bullock (Don DeFore) is
an unemployed soldier who's just been kicked out of his $40-a-week apartment. He
finds refuge in a millionaire's summer home with the help of a friendly
neighborhood hobo. Soon the house is bustling with people, including the
millionaire himself who's living there in disguise.

• Blossoms in the Dust: Edna Gladney (Greer Carson, Pride and Prejudice) takes up
the cause of illegitimate children in Texas during the first half of the
twentieth century. Her Texas Children's Home and Aid Society helps those
children find a home when all others would reject them.

The Evidence

I'm not that picky about my Christmas movies, but I do expect at least one of
the following things: Baby Jesus, Santa Claus, a Christmas miracle, or some kind
of personal growth through the magic of Christmas. You can't just throw a
Christmas tree in the corner and call it a day, by God. Only one of these movies
fits my stringent requirements and that's All Mine to Give. The others
are above-average movies that have little to do with the holiday season. Shame
on you, Warner Brothers.

Now, ignoring the blatant false advertising on this holiday movies
collection, this is a decent collection of family-friendly movies, although
they're all lightweights. There's nothing in there that's going to shake,
rattle, or roll you. It's pleasant fluff.

Blossoms in the Dust, for instance, was about a woman who stood up
against the establishment to try and guarantee a better life for all those
children who have illegitimate scribbled all over their birth certificates.
Instead of an exploration of what she was truly up against, there are a few
scenes of snobby, elitist women turning their noses up at Gladney and only one
or two indications of how damning illegitimacy could be in the 1910s. When one
of the characters commits suicide because she finds out she's illegitimate, it's
hard to understand why she takes such a drastic way out. Blossoms in the
Dust glosses over the ugliness and goes for the heartstrings and fuzzy
feelings instead. While there's nothing inherently wrong with this approach, it
lessens the accomplishments of Mrs. Gladney somewhat and makes for a less
powerful film overall.

Nonetheless, it does succeed in being heartwarming without making one gag
and that's a plus, I suppose. But take note that I didn't mention Christmas.

All Mine to Give succeeds at both delivering the Christmas and the
goods, but the ending is lacking. The trials and tribulations of this family
that the film follows over the course of nearly two hours are resolved in less
than 20 minutes with almost an absurd lack of trouble. The goal is to find six
homes for six children in a fair-sized frontier town and they manage to do it
before suppertime. I'll just chalk this up to a Christmas miracle and leave it
at that.

Holiday Affair, in spite of its name, could have taken place during
Easter—or anyone else's birthday. And once again, it's not a terrible
movie. But it's lacking a truly whiz-bang script. It is kind of like a screwball
comedy, except it's not very screwball. Robert Mitchum isn't well-suited for
those kind of shenanigans, but he's perfect for the laidback and unflappable
Steve Mason. He might even be overkill, like bringing a gun to a knife fight.
Holiday Affair didn't really need to crack out Robert Mitchum for this
role. And Janet Leigh doesn't have much do except fret about which man she
wants. I have a hard time accepting this as a genuine problem. Gee, two awesome
guys fighting over the same woman, whatever shall she do?

It Happened on 5th Avenue is another mild comedy, with simple gags
and mistaken identity providing the humor. I found myself siding with poor
Donald O'Connor, the rich man who unknowingly hosts a bevy of homeless GIs. He's
forced to play butler for them while they eat all his food and smoke all his
good cigars. The fact that he didn't call the police within 10 minutes is a
testament to the charms of Gale Storm (winner of greatest stage name ever), who
plays his daughter. Storm was a star of the small screen who, like Mitchum and
Leigh, is underused.

There's also the small matter of a large, unresolved plot point. Storm's
character, also in the mansion under an assumed name, falls in love with Jim,
who doesn't know who she is. But it's never explained, when, if and how she
reveals her identity to him. Of course, I doubt that knowing that would have
changed the outcome of the movie one iota. It's nothing if not predictable. My
ma watched the first 30 minutes with me, correctly predicted the ending, and
left the room.

Warner Brothers wasn't altogether generous with the features, unless you're
a big fan of French subtitles. A single theatrical trailer is the only thing to
occupy your time after you're done with the films proper. It's a good thing then
that it's such a clean presentation of all four movies, but still, even one
small featurette explaining why Blossoms in the Dust is packaged as a
"bonus disc" on the box would have been nice.

Closing Statement

When all is said and done, this is a collection of fluffy, unheavy fare.
You're not going to be challenged or depressed or weighted down with complex
moral issues. They're perfect entertainment for a cold winter night when you
don't have very much else to do, which I guess is the most you can ask from a
movie for the holidays.

The Verdict

Judge Charles is not beginning to feel a lot like Christmas and so finds this
Holiday Collection guilty. As it's close to Christmas, he'll let it off with a
warning.